On a typical drizzly Dutch Friday afternoon I headed of to Utrecht to see the Masters graduate show from the School of the Arts in Utrecht. It was especially this collection that showed in the city centre that stood out most: Ingrid Hulskamp presented her collection in the old garden called Het Pandhof where live music, Dutch weather, the garments and the old mystic garden created an atmosphere that was rather compelling. And so we sat down for coffee and she explained the idea and process behind her collection ‘Coat of a Shadow’.

The show was filmed by Arnout Hulskamp and can be seen on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiP7m3vjRS0

Ingrid explains her view on fashion. “It is an applied art and although it is taught in a way where you are learning to create a beautiful story, or image throughout yourself I believe it is important to keep in mind that as a fashion designer you work for the people you dress”. She looked into Dutch fashion design and found that it is often largely based on narcissism and to intercept this for herself she started working with a person at random; quite fast in the process of shaping the collection. “This also gave me the opportunity to be in close contact with the person I was designing for and I tried to place myself in the other for inspiration”. This soon led to the understanding of the contradictions of fashion and she saw that the girl she worked with and the concept of narcissism held both notions of concealing and revealing. “I consider this as a fundamental aspect in fashion”.

In order to transform these findings into shape she did extensive research into fashion history to find that one garment that associates these concepts at its best: the trench coat. “Like for instance the femme fatales in film noir or big scary guys standing in the bushes also known as flashers”, she explains.  “And it somehow holds the strength to insinuate that a women wearing the coat may perhaps not be wearing anything underneath.” And so she found that this garment gave the opportunity to stage both public and private. “I tried to grasp this border by using white silk for the coats that I then sprayed black on the models”. This quite private and intimate process is made public by filming and presenting it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muGul4UPLmw

The white silk is see-through, intimate and fragile. “I stage the transformation from private to public by spraying the coats on the bodies that create a very private and intimate mal of the body that was wearing the coat during the spraying process”. The dark paint after the spraying creates the shadows of the coat on the body, she then explains. The paint that was used is light sensitive based on a heliographic technique. This means that in the places where the light did not touch the garment during the drying process, the silk stays lighter. So it creates more shadow in the coat.

In design she translated the concepts of private and public or concealing and revealing by redesigning the typical details of a trench coat through new shapes and laser cutting of details in the silk. This in itself again reveals but because of the shape conceals, or made public but stays private. This is for instance to be seen in the way she used pockets; they were removed through laser technique to reveal the skin underneath.

“I decided to show the collection in a public space,” she then continues, and in the choreography I wanted to show the work far away and unattainable versus up close and personal”.

First she showed the models from a distance to let the audience feel like voyeurs like in daily life – that is all about looking and being looked at, this to translate both public and revealing. She then let the models walk through the audience creating a more private atmosphere that translates the concept of concealing and private. Because the models are closer to the audience, seeing in itself is then experienced differently. Coats and shadow are seen from a whole new perspective.